Sunday Sermon: The last Day
by VP
Posted on Sunday November 23, 2025 at 05:00AM in Sunday Sermons
"Amen, I say to you; this generation shall not pass, till all things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.-MATT. xxiv. 34, 35."
"THESE words, with which the Church both commences and concludes her evangelical year, call your attention to that great scene, emphatically denominated, in sacred language, the last day. One of the characteristics of the Deity, which he has himself pointed out to us in his inspired oracles, is, that he is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. His revealed religion is marked with a similar feature. With respect to this material world, she may be called the beginning and the end: she invincibly proves herself divine, by the sublime and sovereign manner in which she disposes of both extremities. Who, but religion, has taught us how we were created, and how this our inhabited earth began? On this subject, what human system does not sink into contempt, by the side of her simple and majestic narrative? In like manner, who, but religion, pretends to inform us how this great scene is to terminate? On the former head, man has attempted a few feeble conjectures; but on the latter, if I mistake not, he has been utterly silent. Or, if his unassisted reason has ventured to touch the subject, he has been afraid to pronounce his favored abode perishable; and, seeing it permanent amid all his own changes, has vainly imagined it to be eternal. Religion alone speaks out with confidence on the dark but interesting subject, and boldly declares that the world is not eternal; that, temporary like its lord, it shall one day pass away like him: heaven and earth shall pass away.
Even as mere matter of curiosity and contemplation, I can imagine no subject more choice and inviting to the mind: the last of days-the great epilogue; -the closing page of man's eventful history, which is to shut up the long-expected volume, or rather to supersede at once all its insignificant records! But, my brethren, the subject is not merely curious; it is one of deep interest and expectation; for it speaks of a scene, in which you are yourselves to appear, not as remote spectators, but to act your several parts. Induced by these considerations, and, above all, encouraged and authorized by the Church of God, I venture this day to approach the awful and interesting, but arduous, subject. Attempting little of my own, I will assemble, select, and digest for you, what has been said by those who alone have a right to speak on the subject-the inspired writers.
Man, by his fall, seems to have involved in that mortality, which was its punishment, all that is connected with him: even the world, which he inhabits, is become mortal, like himself. As it is decreed for all men once to die, so it is decreed that the world shall perish. There will come a day, which to this universe will be final and fatal. That day is already known in the counsels of heaven: but, to us, one of its most awful and alarming circumstances is its inscrutable uncertainty. In this, as in other particulars, it bears a remarkable resemblance to man's individual sentence, which from nothing borrows so much terror as from that mysterious darkness which hangs over its execution. As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be then. For as, in the days before the deluge, men were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, till the very day when Noah entered the ark, and they knew not, till the deluge came and carried them all away; so shall be the coming of the Son of Man.
This uncertainty, too, will subsist in the midst of the most pointed warnings; for no future event was ever marked out by more striking and plainer preludes. Here, also, it keeps up its parallel with the dissolution of man. For, as that dreaded event is commonly preceded by a succession of appearances and symptoms, both remote and proximate, which indicate to every eye, but perhaps the interested individual, that the human machine is running down and hastening to its last stroke; so, it has pleased the Almighty to usher in the great day of the world's dissolution, by a series of preludes, which shall clearly announce that its last hour is approaching. Its remoter indications may be said to be the general decay of faith and piety among men; the coldness and almost total extinction of charity; the wide-spread corruption of manners; the neglect of divine worship, and the appearance of that mysterious character, called in scripture anti-christ, or the man of sin, who is to seduce many from the true faith, to deceive with signs and wonders, and to make war on the Church of God. When these have subsisted their due period, then shall commence those more immediate symptoms, so awfully accumulated in the divine oracles. You shall hear, says the Son of God, of wars and rumors of wars; nation shall rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes. These are the beginnings of sorrows. Let us expand a little, and dwell on these fearful particulars.
There shall be wars. Man himself shall begin the work of destruction, and co-operate with the vengeance of heaven. This is signified under the figure of the red horse, which was seen by St. John. And to him that sat thereon it was given, that he should take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and a great sword was given him.-Men, restless and agitated with all the furies of discord and revenge, will turn their ferocity against their own species, will assemble in vast bodies for the destruction of each other, and cover the earth with the blood of its inhabitants. If past history speaks of rivers of blood shed in battle, here shall be a deluge. The wine-press, in the mystic language of St. John, was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the wine-press, even up to the horses' bridles, for a thousand six hundred furlongs.And there shall be famines. Famine is the natural concomitant of war, and accordingly is the next figure presented to us in the Apocalypse, as the black horse, the rider of which held a balance in his hand, wherein he was to weigh rigorously the scanty necessaries of existence. And Pestilence, the other attendant of war. And behold, says St. John, there was a pale horse, and he that sat upon him his name was death, and hell followed him. These three, War, Famine, and Pestilence, as we see in the history of David, are the commissioned scourges of the Almighty, which he sends forth, at intervals, to punish the sins of men. And if they are even now so terrible, devastating whole nations, as we read and even see, when yet their visitations are only limited and partial, what will they be, when they shall become unbounded and universal, like the deluge of iniquity which shall call them down? If they are so formidable in the day of God's mercy, what will they be when sent as harbingers to what is emphatically called the great day of his wrath?
In addition to this, the earth itself, man's own domain, will rise up against him, and, with its different elements, combine to scourge him. There shall be earthquakes, says the divine oracle. The solid globe, as if no longer patient of its iniquitous burden, shall swell and oscillate round its ample circumference, not with those partial and petty heavings which we have hitherto read of in history, but with such vast undulations as to threaten its destruction. And there was, says St. John, a great earthquake, such a one as has never been since men were upon the earth, such an earthquake, so great. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. The sea shall next add its terrors. Its awful and heart-subduing roarings shall reach the most distant lands; and their inhabitants, safe beyond intervening continents, will start and shudder at the portentous sound. I am not exaggerating; I am giving but a feeble paraphrase of the very words of the Son of God. There shall be distress of nations by reason of the roaring of the sea, and of the waves, men withering away through fear and expectation of what shall come upon the world. Next the air will charge itself with vengeance. We have already seen it loaded with pestilence and death; besides this, St. John speaks of lightnings, and thunders, and whirlwinds, and vast hail like a torrent; the whole artillery of heaven exploding on the devoted earth.
As the awful day draws nearer, the great tempest of nature shall still thicken; the convulsions of an agonizing world shall become still more terrific. The day of the Lord is nigh, cries out the prophet, it is nigh and exceeding swift; the voice of the day of the Lord is bitter. A day of wrath, a day of tribulation and distress, a day of calamity and misery, a day of darkness and obscurity, a day of clouds and whirlwinds. The prophet seems lost under the accumulation of its terrors; but let us hear Him, who was the Inspirer of the prophets, himself depict the extraordinary catastrophe. And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened; the moon shall not give her light; and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be moved.
It only remains, that the last of the commissioned elements come in, and, with its rapid energies, obliterate the scene. Behold the Lord will come with fire, says Isaiah, and his chariots are like a whirlwind, to render his wrath in indignation, and his rebuke with flames of fire; for the Lord shall judge by fire. A day of clouds and whirlwinds, exclaims Joel, the like to it hath not been from the beginning, nor shall be after it, even to the years of generation and generation. Before the face thereof a devouring fire, and behind it a burning flame; the land is like a garden of pleasure before it, and behind it a desolate wilderness; neither is there any one that can escape it. Fire is, of all the elements, the most active and violent, and is therefore reserved by the Almighty for the consummation of his judgment, for the temporal death of this visible world, as well as for the eternal death of the world to come. He chastised and reformed the earth by water; he will destroy it by fire; and as, on that occasion, he not only opened the floodgates of heaven, but broke up the fountains of the great deep,-so we may naturally suppose, that now he will not only pour down the destroying element from above, but will command the great deep of hell to open its gates and send forth an inundation of fire upon the earth. It is the sentiment of one of the Fathers. Follow, my brethren, in imagination, the course, the range, the waste of this fiery deluge, as it rolls over the earth, a garden of pleasure before it, and instantly a desolate wilderness behind. Will man here, too, scale the mountains, or bury himself in the depths? Will he entrench himself behind his marble bulwarks, or attempt, by another tower, to baffle the wrath of heaven? Alas! the elements themselves, says St. Peter, shall melt with heat; and the earth, and the works which are in it, be burnt up. His houses, his gardens, his palaces, his cities, shall be swept away in a moment by the devouring element; his limits and his landmarks, his provinces and his countries, shall be rapidly effaced; every trace of his existence on the earth will disappear, and all lie low and level, in one undistinguished blank.
Thus, my brethren, are all the great preludes accomplished; thus is the earth prepared for the coming judgment of its Creator. And it was fitting, that whatever had risen prominent on its surface, should be leveled into insignificance before Him; and that nothing, of all that once divided the attention of his creatures, should, when he came to take his final cognizance, be found standing in his presence.
Where now are those who once most figured in the busy scene, who fondly flattered themselves with immortality? who labored hard during life to gain it, and left no art unpracticed to secure it after death? Oh, mockery of earthly ambition! oh, cruel satire on human vanity! What better application could we make of the celebrated sentence of the Wise Man, than to inscribe it here, as an epitaph on the tomb of a buried world? Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity. And if, my brethren, those schemes and projects, which enjoyed, after all, some semblance of greatness, and at least a shadow of success, are to have at last so pitiful an exit, what shall become of those petty objects which now occupy and fill our minds?-that fortune which one is raising?-that fame which another is aiming at?-that treasure of science which a third is accumulating? that trivial distinction which a fourth affects, of person, dress, or equipage? Where shall then be found these insignificant nothings, which even now have no real importance, and yet, unhappily, divert us from our only interest, bind us to this perishable earth, and make us forget our last end, and the great Judge before whom we are infallibly to appear.
At the appointed hour, ere the great Judge descends upon the earth, he will give the signal to his attendant angels, four of whom will instantly take their station at each quarter of the globe, and sound forth from the celestial trumpet the resuscitating decree: Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment. The powerful voice will instantaneously echo round the vast convex, pierce earth and sea, and resound in the lowest hell. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, says the apostle, the dead shall rise; from first to last, they shall all wake from their long slumber, reanimate their original dust, and be seen issuing forth in throngs from their various repositories, the bowels of the earth, the depths of the ocean, and the abyss of hell. St. John saw it: And the sea, says he, gave up the dead that were in it, and death and hell gave up the dead that were in them. Of the immense series, not one shall be overlooked or missing; the least and obscurest shall appear, as surely as the greatest and most famous; the infant of a day, who only just saw the light of heaven, and resunk into oblivion, as certainly as the patriarch of nine hundred years; all who once drew the breath of life shall revive, and cover the earth; an army, in the language of Scripture, exceeding vast. If the posterity of one family is compared to the sands of the sea-shore, by what shall we aid the imagination to conceive the simultaneous assemblage of the uncalculated millions that, during the long period of six thousand years, have peopled the globe?
While we cast our eyes in thought over this vast multitude of men now assembled together, for the first, yes, for the last time, what a surprising change do we observe! As we see mankind in life, nothing is more remarkable than those numerous and broad distinctions which everywhere appear in their ranks rich and poor, noble and plebeian, lord and slave, polite and vulgar, learned and illiterate: now these have totally disappeared, and the whole is leveled down to one equal, common, undistinguished crowd. In vain shall we look for the scepter or the diadem, the robe of office, or the sword of conquest. The renowned monarch, whom we so often read of in history, is, doubtless, here; but he is hid among the dense mass of his own subjects; the mighty conqueror, who strode across the earth with destructive march, is here too, but lost amid the rude press of the ignoble myriads, upon whom he once trampled. One simple distinction alone remains; which before existed indeed unperceived, but now breaks forth, and extinguishes every other-the distinction of good and bad; the former clothed with light, beauty, and immortality, the latter unsightly and hideous. Oh! my friends, what will be the confusion and astonishment of the great ones of this world, when they shall see those whom they once hardly deigned to look upon, exalted in power and glory, and themselves sunk in impotence and disgrace, thrust aside without regard, as the scorn and refuse of the assembly! What will be the shame and agony of the fair ones of the world, when they shall see those charms, of which they were foolishly vain, and guiltily prodigal, transferred with infinite improvement to the neglected beggar, or loathed leper, and themselves stamped with eternal deformity!
But from these reflections, my brethren, it is now time to turn to a scene, which will quickly absorb them. But, how shall I attempt to give you an idea of a spectacle so awful and so extraordinary, Heaven itself coming down in judgment! Even the judgment-seat of man is surrounded with awe and dread. What, then, may be expected, when the Son of God himself, appointed by his eternal Father supreme Judge of the living and the dead, shall disclose his tribunal, surrounded with all the grandeur and terrors of his omnipotence? His appearance will be as the lightning darting from east to west; that is, no sooner shall the dazzling vision burst on the horizon, than it will envelope the whole hemisphere in a blaze of glory. The assembled multitude will instantly turn towards it their intensest gaze. And every eye shall see him, says St. John, and they also that pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth shall bewail themselves because of him. In front of the judicial array will appear the ensign of the cross, that comfort of the just and terror of the wicked, environed with dazzling effulgence, and surpassed only by Him whose sign it is. He will be the great focus of regard, riding supreme on the clouds, clothed in all the beauty and grandeur of his visible humanity, and supported with all the power of his invisible divinity. The whole court of heaven will be his attendants, and, arrayed in visible forms, will surround his throne, in their several hierarchies, order above order, filling the air with their countless myriads, and illumining it with ten thousand glories. He himself has assured us of these particulars. When the Son of man shall come in his majesty, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit on the seat of his majesty. Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn: and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with great power and majesty.
In this form will the judicial pomp descend; and, as it reaches its destination, the just will rise into the clouds to meet it, taking their station, likewise, in the air aloft, while the reprobates are left in the vale beneath, grovelling on that earth which was the theater of their crimes and the utmost object of their low desires. Then without delay the judgment will proceed; it will not be lingering and tedious, like human trials, but summary and rapid. The judgment sat, says the prophet, and the books were opened;-those books, in which are minutely and unerringly recorded all the moral transactions of men, from the beginning of time. These shall be instantly displayed in the face of the universe, and each individual life exposed in broad characters to its gaze. If a little shame be now so powerful, in this petty scene, so scanty and so circumscribed, what must be the effect, on the guilty soul, of this complete and universal publicity? Here there will be neither excuse nor defense, neither patron nor advocate, neither appeal nor repentance. What treasures of iniquity will then appear! what works of darkness will be brought to light! What extraordinary discoveries will then be made! what manifestations and justifications of Divine Providence! Then shall be seen the reason why one man, with every virtue that could merit prosperity, was pursued with unrelenting adversity; and why another was allowed to riot in every guilty pleasure, and yet die in peace, though a debtor to all the vengeance of heaven. Then, too, shall be explained all the mysteries and paradoxes of human character and conduct: it shall be seen, why this man so unaccountably resisted all the impressions of grace; what was the secret bar, which prevented their efficacy: why that man, after the most promising beginning, made a sudden and ominous pause in the way of virtue, and was never afterwards seen to advance; why a third, living in the midst of light, was never enlightened, that is to say, why, surrounded with evidences of the true religion, and pressed by them on every side, in reading, in argument, in observation, in reflection, he was able to withstand, where so many thousands had yielded: and why a fourth, who apparently possessed every moral virtue that could prepare the way for the true faith, yet
did never attain it, but continued to the last an alien from salvation, in spite of the exhortations of friendship, the invitations of example, and the prayers and tears of a pious family. All these discoveries will then be made, with many others, too numerous even for allusion. On the other hand, all the secret and retiring merits of the just will be brought forward and displayed in glory; all those virtues, which they studiously concealed, oftentimes under the assumed garb of a repulsive exterior; -all those deeds of beneficence and piety, which they carefully buried in oblivion; -all those generous ardors, by which, wanting the means, they burned with the desires of the most arduous sacrifices, and thus in secret made every merit their own.
But it is time that we hear the definitive sentence, which is to conclude this awful scene. Preparatory to this, charge will. be given to the ministering spirits, to arrange on either hand the sheep and the goats, that is, to assemble the just on the right hand, and to drive the reprobate to the left. Then the great Judge, collecting into his heavenly countenance all that beauty, of which he is the sole center, all that sweetness, of which he is the ravishing source, all that love, of which he is the immense ocean, will say to those on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, receive ye the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. Oh, thrice happy ears, which shall be found worthy to hear this sentence! Who shall express what the hearts of the just will feel at its pronunciation? If the human breast heaves so powerfully at the infusion of those little drops of joy which occasionally refresh it in this miserable life, how will it support that flood of rapture with which these divine words will deluge its small capacity?
Then, turning to the unhappy multitude on his left hand, armed with all the frowns and terrors of angry Omnipotence, he will thunder out against them the dreadful anathema: Go, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels. Both of these sentences will be immediately executed. The happy just will hear the dreadful award of the wicked, with acquiescence and approbation: the time is now come for them, in the language of the Scripture, to wash their hands in the blood of the sinner; the feelings of commiseration and charity have no longer any place, but are swallowed up in the sense of divine justice, with which they take part and congratulate. Accordingly, they will now look down with an eye of indifference on the fate, dreadful as it is, of acquaintance, of friends, and of relatives; and, absorbed in their own felicity, will rise aloft, singing canticles of jubilee, to take possession of that eternal kingdom, to which their God has so lovingly invited them.
Let us follow, then, my brethren, the different fate of the reprobate. No sooner shall the almighty voice have uttered their sentence, than the earth will yawn under their feet, and hell, opening for the last time its voracious jaws, will engulf the vast multitude in its terrible abyss. Then the infernal gates will for ever close upon them: the Eternal will affix his irrevocable seal, and shoot the bolt, which shall never be drawn back. -But oh, my brethren, how shall we express or conceive what will pass below, in the darkness and confinement of that infernal dungeon! St. John finely, but terribly, paints it to us, in these sublime words: The smoke of their torments ascends for ever and ever.
Yes, their dreadful torment shall incessantly steam forth a baleful vapor: the smoke thereof will ascend for ever before the eyes of the Almighty, and, in the language of Scripture, bring up in remembrance before him the sufferings of the damned;he will remember them and will never regard them. His ears will never be open to their cries: their tears and blasphemies, their prayers and their execration will find him equally indifferent. He will live on with his elect, in an eternity of bliss; and they will live on, with the demons, in a parallel eternity of woe; and will then conceive a hope of period or change in their sufferings, when they shall discover a hope of change or period in his essential existence.
Such will be the end of time; such the termination of this present state of things. It may be remote, but it is not on that account the less certain. You are not more secure in the present testimony of your senses, than you are in the reality of what you have here listened to; you are not more surely here present, than you will be at the last scenes, which you have here contemplated. The present assembly, so soon to separate, and perhaps ere long to scatter over the world, will there finally meet again: the eyes, with which you now regard me, do not more certainly apprehend their object, than they will then view the great Judge on his awful tribunal: the ears with which you now listen to my voice, the very same will then re-echo with the twofold sentence, and either be ravished with the sweet invitation of the just, or astounded with the terrible condemnation of the reprobate. That the former may be our common lot is the most expressive wish and prayer which I can make in conclusion."The Catholic Pulpit: Containing a Sermon for Every Sunday, 24th Sunday after Pentecost
St. Clement I, Pope and Martyr, A.D. 100
by VP
Posted on Sunday November 23, 2025 at 04:00AM in Saints
"He was a disciple of St. Peter, and commended by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Philippians. He was the third bishop of Rome, after St. Peter, took great care for recording the acts of the martyrs; and for his zeal in gaining many to the Christian faith, was banished by order of the emperor Trajan into Chersonesus. There he found great numbers of Christians, condemned to work in the quarries by the same
emperor. To these he was a great comfort, instructing and relieving
them under their severe labours. For which, complaint being made of him to the emperor, he was, by his command, thrown into the sea, where he finished a glorious martyrdom, in the year 100.
Pray for the present bishop of Rome; that in zeal and holiness, he may be a true follower of his primitive predecessors. Pray for all in affliction. And since this is a difficult trial, be careful not to bring any into trouble. Treat all with sweetness and compassion; and ever choose rather to make others easy by your condescendence, than suffer by your roughness and severity. Endeavor to compose differences, as St. Paul advises, by reference, rather than bring your neighbor to the expense and trouble of law-suits, which are seldom conducted without unchristian heats and the breach of charity. But above all, see that you bring no trouble to your own doors, by your prodigality, intemperance, or other vices. Many families have been ruined by those, whose duty it was to be their support: and who can imagine what their sin must be, who by their disorders, entail misery on their children to generations? Consider whether by your irregularities, you do not rob your wife and children. For however you may call what you have your own, it is no otherwise your own, than for those purposes for which God has bestowed it. Pray for grace to understand this, that for the support of pride, vanity, ambition, or intemperance, you be not cast out among thieves and persecutors." Source:The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
A Vision of the Trinity appearing to Pope Saint Clement
Twenty-Third Day: Works of Penance for the Holy Souls.
by VP
Posted on Sunday November 23, 2025 at 04:00AM in Purgatory Month Meditations
"The Church has at all times recommended and the saints have always had recourse to works of penance as the best means of obtaining extraordinary graces from God. And there is no doubt that these works of mortification have great efficacy for the departed. Although great works of penance and mortification are not expected of every one, yet there is no one who could not occasionally deny himself a part of some favorite dist or some amusement, mortify his eyes, ears or tongue, observe silence for a short time, bear in patience the pain of sickness, heat or cold, or any other adversity, or curb his self-will and evil inclinations; in fact bear with submission and gratitude to God everything that causes pain or distress.
Such charity lovingly bestowed on the holy souls of our dear departed will call down rich blessings upon us and obtain for us strength to endure our own sufferings.
"Know ye that the Lord will hear our prayers if you continue with perseverance in fastings and prayers, in the sight of the Lord." (Judith IV. 11.)"
Prayer: Grant us, O Lord, the grace to walk before Thee in penance and mortification, and in these works to remember the souls in Purgatory. Deign to accept what we in the spirit of charity offer for the comfort and relief of these penitent souls. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
Prayer for Priests in Purgatory: My Jesus, by the sorrows Thou didst suffer in Thine Agony in the Garden, in Thy Scourging and Crowning with thorns, in the Way to Calvary, in Thy Crucifixion and Death, have mercy on the souls of priests in Purgatory, especially those most forgotten and who have no one else to pray for them. I wish to remember all those priests who ministered to me, the priests my heart has never forgotten, and for those that I no longer recall due to my frailty of memory. Do Thou deliver them from the dire torments they endure; call them and admit them to Thy most sweet embrace in Paradise.
Pope Saint Pius X and Saint John Vianney, pray for us and especially for our priests. Amen
Special Intercession: Pray for the souls of those who bestowed the merit of their mortification upon the holy souls.
Lord grant them eternal rest, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen. (three times)
Invocation: My Jesus, mercy!
Source: Manual of the Purgatorian Society, Redemptorist Fathers. 1907The preacher who likes applause
by VP
Posted on Sunday November 23, 2025 at 01:42AM in Books
"What is the end of a preacher? Is it to please? To gain applause? To obtain promotion? Or is it to give men life; to make them " Sorrowful unto penance"?
I am of opinion, writes St. Francis of Sales, that a preacher ought not to aim at the gratification of the ear, which is the result of artifice, of worldly elegance, of merely ornamental oratory. He who desires to please his audience says only "pleasant things". The craving for applause blinds him to the truth. He relies almost exclusively on the persuasive words of human wisdom, he makes little or no account of the Word of God, which ought to be the chief source of sacred eloquence, and he speaks in a style more suited to the platform than to the pulpit, more profane than sacred.
Hence there arises amongst the people and even amongst the clergy, a vitiated taste in respect to the Word of God, which gives scandal to the pious and no profit to the incredulous; for these latter, although they sometimes come to the church, especially if attracted by such high-sounding words as Progress, Fatherland, Modern Science, and loudly applaud the preacher, go forth from it no better than they entered."
Source: The Priest of Today, Rev. Thomas O'Donnell 1911 page 226
Saint Cecilia, Patron Saint of Music, Virgin and Martyr, A.D. 230
by VP
Posted on Saturday November 22, 2025 at 04:00AM in Saints
Saint Cecilia, Public Domain
"Let's pray to Saint Cecilia on her feast day, so that music in our churches will once again be an instrument of elevation to God, not a profanation of the sacred." Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Nov. 22. 2020.
"A noble virgin of Rome; who being instructed in the faith of Christ, gave her heart to Him from her tender years, chose Him for her spouse, and took holy resolutions of living ever a virgin. But being afterwards, against her will, given in marriage to Valerian, a heathen, she informed him of her resolutions; likewise of her being in custody of an angel. This strange language surprising Valerian, he promised to acquiesce in her proposals, upon condition that he might see the angel. Being baptized for this end, he saw the angel, and was so confirmed in the Christian faith, that soon after, he suffered martyrdom for the same, together with his brother Tiburtius, who had been gained to Christ, by the discourse of St. Cecilia. Upon this, she was apprehended; and having stood out with constancy against all the arguments of the governor, she was commanded to be burnt. The flames, however, not touching her, an executioner was ordered to behead her; who, after three strokes, leaving her half dead, she, on the third day, gave up her soul to the heavenly spouse, under Alexander the emperor, in the year 230. Pray for all in the state of virginity; especially those, who by vow have engaged themselves to God; that He would be their protector, and deliver them from all snares and violence.
Pray for those, who have any thoughts of changing their state; that they may advance nothing in it, but by consulting Heaven, and taking the advice of those,
whom God has placed over them for their direction, and by whom He
speaks to them. Pray for a clean heart; and that you may be preserved
from all that might defile it. Have courage under such trials and
temptations, as fall to your portion. While you are ever on your guard to resist, yet submit with as much patience to the trouble, as you would desire to do to the torments of a persecutor. If you can hold out without dejection, and glorify God in your sufferings, the devil, envious of your good, will leave you in peace." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
"In the early Church. We known very little concerning the music of the primitive Christian Church. On account of many circumstances that Church was restricted in its religious manifestations, for the greater part of the first three centuries was a time of bitter persecution, when Christians worshiped God in secret and in peril of their lives. Tertullian tells us, however, that in his day psalms were sung in the divine service, and the pagan Pliny knew that Christians honored their God before dawn by the chanting of hymns. The extensive use of music in church ceremonies came later, and is to be largely attributed to St. Ambrose, the great Bishop of Milan, who introduced the singing of psalms "after the manner of the East." Under the fostering care of our Church sacred music developed most wonderfully during the succeeding centuries.
St. Jerome, who seldom failed to criticize when criticism was needed, speaks of singers of his day in words to which some of our modern choirs and church soloists may well hearken: "Let the servant of God sing in such manner that the words of the text rather than the voice of the singer may cause delight, and that the evil spirit of Saul may depart from those that are under its dominion, and may not enter into those who make a theater of the house of the Lord." Can it be possible that the prophetic soul of the Saint foresaw the evils of some of the church music of today, wherein hymns to the Blessed Sacrament are chanted to the dulcet strains of "Juanita," and the sublime words of the Credo are sung to the liveliest melodies of Offenbach?
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The Gregorian Chant: This is the distinctive song of the Church, the interpreter in melody of her prayerful devotion. It is so called from its great founder, St. Gregory the Great, and is also known by the names of Plain, Roman or Choral Chant. It is a grave melody, usually solemn in nature, sung in unison, that is, without harmonizing parts, set to the rhythm of the words, and without strictly measured time.
As a prayer is an utterance by the believing heart, expressing its faith, so the chant, which is the more solemn mode of liturgical prayer, owes to faith its power and its beauty.
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The Beauty of the Chant: As regards the tone used, the ecclesiastical chant is full of variety, for it was created for the purpose of beautifying the Church's services, which are of many kinds. Adoration, thanksgiving, supplication, sorrow, joy, and triumph find in the Gregorian tones their fitting expression. The melody accommodates itself to the word and phrase, to the spirit of the Church, and to the nature of the prayer and praise which are being offered to God. Whether it be the Gloria, the jubilant song of the Angels - The Sanctus, in which we here on earth join in adoration with the celestial spirits - the Agnus Dei, the appeal for mercy addressed to Him Who has taken away sin - the Libera, which is the intercessory prayer for the faithful departed - in each of these the spirit of the words and the devotion of the Church are brought out clearly by the grand and simple melodies of the Gregorian Chant. How beautiful in its solemn and reverential strains is the Preface of the Mass, in which the priest offers the Church's thanksgiving and homage before the throne of God! How replete with sadness and sorrow is the chant of the Lamentations in the office of Holy Week! How expressive of fear and desolation are the mournful notes of the "Dies Irae"! All there varying moods of the Church's praise and prayer are portrayed in the Gregorian Chant without any of the artifices of vocal or instrumental harmonizing that are employed in secular music. Its melodies have sprung from the minds of Saints, singing from the Spirit of God." The Externals of the Catholic Church: Her Government, Ceremonies, Festivals by Rev. Fr. John F. Sullivan 1917
Twenty-second Day: Alms-giving Affords Great Relief to the Departed
by VP
Posted on Saturday November 22, 2025 at 04:00AM in Purgatory Month Meditations
"Besides prayer and other acts of devotion there are practical good works we can perform for the relief of the suffering souls. Alms-giving is one of the most prominent, for this, being a work of mercy, is especially efficacious in obtaining mercy for the holy souls. Not the rich alone are able to give alms; the poor can do so as well; since it is not the value of the gift, but the good intention with which it is bestowed, that is acceptable in the sight of God. We also shall one day be numbered among the suffering souls, and who is in greater need and poverty than they? The most miserable beggar in this world can at least complain of his wants and ask others to assist him. But the souls in Purgatory cannot do even this, for the instances in which they are permitted to implore aid of the living are exceptional cases and very few are on record. What consolation it will afford us when in our own great time of need, the poor whom we have befriended and comforted upon earth, in company with the holy souls whom we delivered by offering this work of mercy for them, shall come to our assistance by their prayers and supplications! Therefore, says Holy Scripture: "Do good to the friend before thou die; and according to thy ability, stretching out thy hand to give to the poor." (Eccl. XIV. 13.)"
Prayer: Lord, graciously look upon the alms we offer for the redemption of the captive souls in Purgatory. Bestow upon them the full merit thereof that they may be able to discharge their debt; accept, we beseech Thee, this boom of charity, that delivered from debt and penalty Thou mayest lead them into Thy heavenly kingdom. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
Prayer for Priests in Purgatory: My Jesus, by the sorrows Thou didst suffer in Thine Agony in the Garden, in Thy Scourging and Crowning with thorns, in the Way to Calvary, in Thy Crucifixion and Death, have mercy on the souls of priests in Purgatory, especially those most forgotten and who have no one else to pray for them. I wish to remember all those priests who ministered to me, the priests my heart has never forgotten, and for those that I no longer recall due to my frailty of memory. Do Thou deliver them from the dire torments they endure; call them and admit them to Thy most sweet embrace in Paradise.
Pope Saint Pius X and Saint John Vianney, pray for us and especially for our priests. Amen
Special Intercession: Pray for the souls of those who upon earth gave alms for the relief of the suffering souls
Lord grant them eternal rest, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen. (Three times)
Invocation: My Jesus, mercy!
Source: Manual of the Purgatorian Society, Redemptorist Fathers. 1907
Ours Pastors and the Music in our Churches
by VP
Posted on Saturday November 22, 2025 at 01:00AM in Chant
"To the Editor, THE ECCLESIASTICAL REVIEW.
Every well instructed Catholic knows the meaning and the importance of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Without the graces emanating from this Sacrifice and without those granted by the Eucharistic presence of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, the Church established by Christ on earth would not have been able to withstand for 1900 years the attacks aimed at her by the powers of hell. Through the daily renewal of the unbloody Sacrifice, and through the frequent reception of Holy Communion, the Catholic receives sufficient strength to overcome the temptations of the flesh, the world, and the devil.
Christ's words, "Behold! I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world," are an assurance that the bark of St. Peter will not succumb to any storm.
In their satanic hate, the enemies of Holy Church have attempted by trickery and by the enactment of prohibitory laws to render the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass impossible. We hope and pray that their efforts may never succeed either in this or any other country.
Knowing the infinite fruits of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Church has issued certain rules for an appropriate celebration of it. Although the so-called Low Mass and a solemn High Mass are the same renewal in an unbloody manner of the Sacrifice on the Cross, the ritual stresses the importance and style of music to be used in the latter ceremony. The late Pope Pius X, of blessed memory, issued special instructions in regard to this. He was solicitous to have the singing and the music of Mass appropriate to the solemnity and holiness of the sacrifice.
As a result there has been a reform of our church music and, although many abuses have been eradicated, perfection has not been attained. In order to obtain better and more satisfactory results, it occurs to me, three things are necessary:
1. The firm wish and will of the pastor to promote good church music.
2. The ability and the desire of the organist to use none other.
3. The cooperation of talented members of the parish who have good voices and who are at the same time zealous, imbued with a spirit of self-sacrifice, willing to join the choir and to attend rehearsals regularly.
Even though the pastor and the organist do all in their power in this respect, our organists experience great difficulty in obtaining new members for their choirs. This is no doubt due to the spirit of frivolity and the desire for pleasure which have taken possession of many of the younger generation of Catholics. This is especially true in our city parishes, while in the country the fact that many members live too far from the church is offered as an excuse.
One would naturally think that the increasing number of daily communicants would effect a change in these conditions.
Is it not logical to conclude that among those who receive their Eucharistic Lord frequently there should be many who would be willing to utilize their voice for making the divine services more solemn and edifying?
Unfortunately, there is an increasing number of complaints from organists that they find it difficult to get additional singers, or even to retain those who have been members of their choirs. It is but natural that such choir directors become discouraged and finally seek some other means of livelihood.
But in addition to this prevalent spirit of frivolity and the selfish pursuit of pleasure, there must be another reason for this deplorable condition.
In the writer's opinion, it would be unjust to place the blame entirely upon the organist and director.
Even though the pastor must devote his time to the more important duties of administering the Sacraments, conducting divine services, preaching, imparting instructions, etc., it devolves upon him to take also an active interest in the choir. Not only should he be a critical observer of all things pertaining to it, but he should also cooperate heartily with the organist and director.
The pastor's authority is indeed superior to that of the organist or choir director.
In what way can the pastor and his assistants help to cooperate in this movement?
1. By frequent attendance at rehearsals and there encouraging the singers and the organist.
2. By granting them special favors, such as, taking them on an outing or an excursion, or providing other forms of pleasure and amusement, even though it require a financial sacrifice on the part of the parish.
3. By occasional reference to the reward which the singers earn by the sacrifices made and by their participation in the divine services, which they help to make more solemn and impressive and thus edify those in attendance. Reference might be made to the fact that those who persevere as singers in the church choir may one day join the heavenly choir in singing God's praises.
4. By encouraging the parochial school children who have good voices to join the children's choir, whence later on they may be advanced to the adult choir. The director of the children's choir is in a position to observe those gifted with musical voices and talent who later on may be acceptable as members of the adult choir.
A word from the pastor would be sufficient to keep the child interested. A child would be highly elated if, for instance, the pastor should say: "John, I expect that some day you will be a member of our big choir. Continue to be the same good boy, diligent and attentive, and later on you may help our good organist to have a fine choir," etc.
Words of encouragement should be imparted frequently so that the children may learn the significance and the importance of a good choir.
The writer is not a confirmed optimist, but he is convinced that there will be a marked improvement in our church choirs, if the pastors cooperate harmoniously and actively with the organist and director. The writer is one of many who have experienced the trials and tribulations of A CATHOLIC ORGANIST."
Source: American Ecclesiastical Review, Volume 72 Herman Joseph Heuser Catholic University of America Press, 1925. p 633
Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
by VP
Posted on Friday November 21, 2025 at 04:00AM in Tradition
"Parents should remember that the offering of a son or a daughter is not all pain and sacrifice. Of course the parting is difficult when the boy or girl bids farewell to family and departs for seminary or convent. It seems almost as though the child has been claimed by death. But the hurt that the heart sustained eventually heals. Time takes care of that. And then the blessings that a religious vocation brings down upon the home and particularly upon the parents in that home make themselves felt.
First of all, there is the feeling of assurance that mother and father have that their daughter could hardly be in better hands than in the hands of Our Lord. She has become the spouse of Christ. She has been especially selected by Christ to be His bride. Surely He will take care of her both in time and in eternity.
Good parents sometimes worry about their children. They know that they are responsible for their welfare in eternity. They have often heard that on the day of the last Judgment children who are lost because of the negligence of their parents will point a finger at their mother and father and demand that Christ condemn them for the awful sin they committed in not seeing to it that their children saved their souls.
Some parents have reason to worry, not because of anything that they have done that was wrong in the training of their children but because the children refused to follow their training and involved themselves in invalid marriages and sinful practices that drove them out of the Faith into which they had been born and baptized. Mothers and fathers worry in cases like these lest their children lose their souls.
They do not have to worry about their daughter in the convent. Her habit of prayer, the good example all around her, the spiritual exercises of her daily life will carry her to heaven when her time comes to die. Mother and father can be sure that at least one of their children is safe and that they need have no fear of giving an account to God on how her life was lived and how she was brought up from her youth.
The second blessing that follows upon the sacrifice of a son or a daughter to God is the promise of Our Lord that He will provide for the temporal and the eternal welfare of those who willingly make the sacrifice. In the nineteenth chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel the following words are to be found: 'Every one that hath left house or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for My name's sake shall receive a hundredfold and shall possess life everlasting.
It is not stretching the meaning of the text too far to maintain that it refers to all the members of the family who consent to a son or a daughter, a brother or a sister leaving home in order to enter the direct service of God at altar or in the convent.
Thus, a brother who gives up his sister can apply Our Lord's words to himself. And so can a mother in regard to her daughter. And so can a father in regard to his son. The consoling part of Our Lord's words consists in this that a girl who has renegade Catholics in her family - a father who has fallen away from the practice of his holy religion, a sister who has sinned deeply through an invalid marriage, a brother who has become a confirmed alcoholic - that girl by giving up her life to God in religion can save the souls of all these unfortunate relatives of hers no matter how far they have fallen. Our Lord says that he who gives up a sister or a daughter as well as a mother and a father will possess life everlasting. Isn't that what all the members of the family do, even the bad members of a family, when they see one of the girls of the family leave home in order to enter the convent? They give her up. And God promises a great reward."
Twenty-first Day: Efficacy of the Rosary for the Suffering Souls
by VP
Posted on Friday November 21, 2025 at 04:00AM in Purgatory Month Meditations
"St. Dominic declared that the redemption of the holy souls from Purgatory is one of the principal effects of the Rosary. The venerable Alanus writes that many of the brethren had assured him that numerous souls had appeared to them whilst reciting the Rosary, and had declared that next to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass there was no more powerful means of helping the suffering souls than the Rosary. And numerous souls were daily released thereby, who otherwise would have been obliged to remain there for years. St. Alphonsus Liguori, therefore, says: "If we wish to be of assistance to the souls in Purgatory, we must always remember them in our prayers to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and especially offer the holy Rosary for them."
Let us then frequently and with devotion recite the Rosary, which is so pleasing to our Blessed Mother, recommended most especially by Holy Church, discloses to us a rich source of grace, and is so efficacious in relieving the suffering souls and opening Heaven to them. Should our labor prevent us from reciting the entire Rosary every day, let us, at least, say a part of it. This simple homage to the Queen of Heaven will draw great blessing down upon us. And the holy souls will be wonderfully consoled and relieved if this devotion be offered in their behalf."
Prayer: Graciously hear, O Lord, the prayer we offer Thee in the holy Rosary in honor of Mary, Thy Virgin Mother, for the relief of the souls in Purgatory, while in devout meditation upon Thy holy life and suffering we implore Thy Divine assistance. Thou, who livest and reignest, world without end. Amen.
Prayer for Priests in Purgatory: My Jesus, by the sorrows Thou didst suffer in Thine Agony in the Garden, in Thy Scourging and Crowning with thorns, in the Way to Calvary, in Thy Crucifixion and Death, have mercy on the souls of priests in Purgatory, especially those most forgotten and who have no one else to pray for them. I wish to remember all those priests who ministered to me, the priests my heart has never forgotten, and for those that I no longer recall due to my frailty of memory. Do Thou deliver them from the dire torments they endure; call them and admit them to Thy most sweet embrace in Paradise.
Pope Saint Pius X and Saint John Vianney, pray for us and especially for our priests. Amen
Special Intercession: Pray for the souls who were most devoted to the holy Rosary.
Lord grant them eternal rest, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen. (three times)
Invocation: My Jesus, mercy!
Source: Manual of the Purgatorian Society, Redemptorist Fathers. 1907St. Felix of Valois, Confessor, A.D. 1212.
by VP
Posted on Thursday November 20, 2025 at 05:00AM in Saints
"He was of the blood royal of France, educated in great piety, and while as yet a child, accustomed to give alms to the poor, This charity grew up with him; so that being now a youth. He several times stripped himself to cover the naked, and sent from his table the choicest dishes to feed the hungry. Being come to maturity, he made the study of heaven his chief business; and having received holy orders, so to prevent his succession to the crown, he retired into a desert, where he lived in prayer and penance. After some time, being found by St. John of Matha, he with him laid the foundation of the Order of Trinitarians, for the redemption of captives, which by his zeal and good example was very much advanced. In this method of holiness and charity, he lived to the year 1212, when he gave up his soul to God.
If children are under your care, accustom them to good; that the seed
sown in their tender years may bring forth good fruit, for your comfort
and their salvation. Children brought up too nicely, make nice men; and
in this have a double difficulty in coming up to the mortification required by the Gospel. If your lot be in the higher ranks, learn how to employ your money and time. This saint now enjoys the reward of what he employed so well. If you abuse all to serve your vanity and corruption, is there not in this an intolerable misuse of blessings? And what recompense can you then expect, but to be cast forth into the exterior
darkness? It is a reproach to Christianity, that among such numbers,
who are blessed with plenty, there are so few who make a christian use of it,
by referring it to the Giver.
Pray for all in captivity and prison. You have no compassion, if you refuse them this charity; but do more, if you can. Pray for all who are slaves to sin. Help them by your advice and good example: you save your own soul by delivering theirs. But if by your discourse or ill example, you draw any into snares, or chains, you act the part of an infidel, and can have no hopes of salvation." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother
"Felix, happy lover of charity, teach us the worth, and also the nature, of this queen of virtues. It was she that attracted thee into solitude in pursuit of her divine Object; and when thou hadst learnt to find God in himself, she showed him to thee and taught thee to love Him in thy brethren. Is not this the secret which makes love become strong as death, and daring enough, as in the case of thy sons, to defy hell itself? May this love inspire us with every sort of devotedness; may it ever remain the excellent portion of thy holy Order, leading it to adapt itself to every new requirement, in a society where the worst kind of slavery, under a thousand forms, reigns supreme." By Dom Prosper Guéranger
